Sherlock Holmes (2009/2010)

[AlbertV]

I bet you are wondering why I put this title in the modern martial arts cinema section???

Well, Guy Ritchie's soon-to-be shot version of the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tale is going to get the action twist in which Sherlock Holmes himself will be both a bare-knuckle boxer and martial arts expert. As many have already heard, Robert Downey Jr. will be playing the new Sherlock himself.

Both Downey and Ritchie actually practice martial arts themselves, Downey trained in Wing Chun for 5 years while Ritchie recently earned a brown belt in Brazilian Jujitsu. In the film, Sherlock Holmes will be an expert in the fictional art of "Baritsu". Baritsu was created by Doyle himself in Holmes' final story in 1901, The Empty House, so it will give Ritchie and Downey a chance to experiment and play around with the art as it is never really known what "baritsu" was or is to this day.

Source: FirstShowing.net

[dionbrother]

Baritsu is thought to be Conan Doyle's misspelling or copyright-protected version of Bartitsu, which was a British martial art:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu

Glad to see somebody exploring this side of Holmes. The closest was STUDY IN TERROR, a great Holmes vs. Jack The Ripper flick.

[HAZ]

I've always been curious to see the mainland film Shelock Holmes & The Lady Knight. I've seen it mentioned on rarekungfumovies. There's a vcd of this movie out there somewhere, but I've never had any luck tracking it down.

[AlbertV]

Okay, here's a little more on the film. Robert Downey Jr.'s Wing Chun teacher, Sifu Eric Oram, is serving as martial arts consultant. Downey recently ended up in the hospital with six stitches to his mouth when he was accidentally hit by giant Robert Maillat, who plays a hulking henchman to the villain. He was knocked the f**k out! LOL But he's okay.